It has long been a common practice to equip large round balers with ejection devices which include a push-bar to displace the bale clear of a path traveled by the discharge gate as it cycles between closed and open positions when discharging a wrapped bale. Also in common use are various types of ramp designs which carry discharged bales clear of the discharge gate. Examples of a push bar devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,779,527 and 4,889,047, while examples of ramp designs are respectively disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,000,533 and 7,197,979.
While the above-identified patents disclose devices capable of placing a bale out of the swing path of the bale discharge gate when it is cycling between closed and opened positions, the bales may not stay in a desired location due to momentum imparted to the bale. Such further movement could result in undesired consequences. For example, bales which are wrapped with a protective wrapping, as disclosed in U.S. patent application publication Ser. No. US 2004/0221547, could end up being positioned unfavorably for proper wrapping material functionality. Furthermore, bales which roll excessively after being deposited may result in the unwinding of any wrapped twine or may result in damage to any wrapped plastic material.
The problem to be solved then is that of providing a discharged bale control device which is capable of arresting any rolling of the discharged bale while placing the bale at rest at a location free from the swing path of the discharge gate.